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Revenue vows to apply measure consistently
HMRC have abandoned their plan to revise extra-statutory concession (ESC) A19 and have pledged be consistent in applying the current version.
The department had planned to alter the measure to introduce the concept of 'taxpayer responsibilities' in respect of claims against the recovery of underpaid income tax in line with the Revenue’s charter.
The announcement that there ESC A19 will stand in its present form follows a consultation, the reaction to which highlighted the significance of the concession, which can be used by taxpayers to have tax written off when it can be proved that the authorities failed to use information in a timely fashion.
“The responses received – and the accompanying media debate – reflect the importance of ESC A19... and [also reflect] the public and professional concern that the measure is properly and fairly applied where appropriate,” said the Revenue, which plans to improve taxpayer guidance and staff training to make reliable application of the concession.
Tax barrister Keith Gordon had campaigned against the revamp of ESC A19, raising an e-petition against a plan that he called “misconceived and misleading”. He commended the tax officials who had recognised that their proposal should be dropped.
“It is very difficult when government departments set their heart on a particular change of policy for it to be withdrawn following consultation,” said Gordon, who practises from Atlas Chambers, London.
He added, “It remains to be seen how HMRC will treat existing ESC A19 claims based upon P14s”, and hoped the department would “publicly accept that they always were relevant information for the purposes of ESC A19, as common sense dictates.”
Responses to the consultation raised the suggestion that the Revenue use employer returns – forms P35 and P14 – when conducting end-of-year reconciliations, to which the department countered, “We are considering the implications of accepting 2012/13 forms P14 as information that affects a taxpayer’s code for the purposes of the concession.”
